There are a lot of people who think that just because the government supports people starting a family then the work environment within any particular government body will be an ideal place to work in for them.

But this is hardly the case for me.

Moreover, in the event that a staff meets a terrible boss who does not want pregnant women on their team, there is nothing available to help the staff when the boss decides to remove the person indiscriminately.

MOM themselves have said that contract staff are not protected (see below email).

AND MOST of the civil servants and public servants hired today are on a one-year contract basis with only a few hiring on two-year or three-year contract.

MOM also admitted that they do not intervene when the staff is abused (see email from MOM below)!

I have stated to them very appalling circumstances of abuse to which I was subjected to and they still insisted that was part of the management style!

In Australia, cases where the employer has convinced the staff that they are not allowed to leave the premises is enough to constitute false imprisonment charges.

Over here, employers can do whatever they want.

During the periodthat I was in employment, I fell sick from the constant abuse and I even sought the help of counsellors at SOS to help me get through the difficult time.

I have to go on medication to get myself through the day.

I have been working for 10 years and I’ve NEVER experienced anything like this.

But then I’ve NEVER worked for a female boss until now…

Even now that I have left the organisation, the thought of going back to work in a full time position frightens me.

What if I meet someone who is exactly like my ex-boss?

How can I be so sure that it won’t happen again? I also have a special aversion against female bosses.

I know it sounds discriminatory but my experience echoes with lots of people whom I’ve talked to who had female bosses.

During interviews, if I find out that the boss is female, I will not consider the position twice.

Even though it’s been 3 months since I left, I still have cold sweat just being in the vicinity of the building and thinking about what happened and being so angry.

I think bosses today get away with inflicting emotional, physical and psychological harm on their workers and don’t have to face the consequences.

Whilst workers continue to bear the pain even after they have left.

I would be happy if I could share some of my physical pain and psychological suffering with her.

But as far as I know she’s probably just doing the same thing to my replacement. And getting away with it again!

Lots of people I talked to had no solution for the kind of abuse I was suffering:-

- She would shout at the top of her voice at me every single day in front of everyone. and only me.
- When I stood up to her and told her that I would not tolerate being shouted at, she began organising work meetings where I could not work away from and proceed to shout at me during those meetings in front of everyone.
- When I tried to do my work, she would prevent me from doing so by insisting that I meet her in private once or twice a day where she would again shout at me. But usually under those circumstances I would walk away because I’d already told her I would not tolerate being shouted at.
- After I fell sick and couldn’t keep up with my work after all the interruption and just everyday cringing at the expectation of being shouted at, she began insisting that I come in to work on weekends and she wanted to see evidence that I had come in on the weekend.
- When other colleagues asked for help on their assignments I was tasked to help them even though she had given me 80% of the work because the rest already had children, but when I asked for help, she simply ignored me.

I asked what I should do under those circumstances.

I read books on how to deal with bosses from hell.

The only solution was to quit but even when I did so, she intensified her abuse.

I ask myself daily what I could have done to make things better and stop her abuse.

But no matter how hard or how late I worked, she just would not let up.

Eventually I just decided that she was a psychopath who hasn’t been dealt any retribution for the past 50+ years, like plenty of other psychopathic bosses out there I’m sure.

I am currently earning over the limit of 4.5K stated in your website and am working for a government body under a 1 year contract.

I would like more information about what an employee in my position can do (including whether it is feasible to undertake legal action) in the event that my employer does not want to renew my contract/dismisses me without any grounds for dismissal, including a situation where an employer dismisses/does not want to renew contract upon learning about a pregnancy.

I would like more information about what evidence / proof would be acceptable to show dismissal without grounds. Please refer me to an officer who will be able to advise me taking into consideration the sensitive nature of my current occupation within the public service.

Generally, if an employee is employed under a fixed term contract, all benefits will cease when the term contract expires. Renewal of the contract is subject to the employer’s assessment of its manpower needs. If the contract is meant to end before the child’s delivery date, the employee will not get to enjoy the maternity leave after the expiry of the contract unless the contract is renewed.

The Employment Act, which the Ministry of Manpower administers, could only inquire into disputes between an employee and employer arising from the contract of service between the two parties or from the provisions of the Act. The Ministry has no jurisdiction to intervene in any “personal dispute”, verbal abuses, management style/ lack of professionalism on the part of the employer or among colleagues. In the situation highlighted, we would advise you to bring out your grievances to your management or the HR Department for their attention and to seek an amicable solution to the dispute.

We are of the view that the signing of any document is subject to the employee’s discretion. You should not be forced to sign any document without your mutual agreement.

Editor’s Note: Permission was granted to post this mail exchange on our site. Transitioning is clueless as to how MOM can assist aggrieved executives harassed by office politics and often forced to resign under acriminuous circumstances. There is currently no accreditted body that our local PMETs can go too when there is a work dispute and many have to either resign in desperation or work till they are sacked by the management. Do we call this a first world country when executives are forced to a corner at the work place with no proper assistance from the authorities? There is the need to form an independent Ombudsman so that executives can go and seek support and proper assistance. No wonder 80% of our executives do not derive any satisfaction from their work.

Reader Feedback

12 Responses to “Shameful: MOM could not help when PMET is bullied by lady boss in government body”

I feel for you. Working for such bosses is a nightmare and make you unproductive because you are spending so much time think how to get back at your boss rather than focusing on your work.

Actually under your circumstances and since you are prepared to resign if things do not work out, what I would do would be to approach your boss’s boss and present all the evidence of abuse by your boss.

If the problem can be resolve to your satisfaction, then stay otherwise you leave. In this way, the unreasonable treatment by your boss would have been highlighted to her supervisor who may monitor the situation and take action against her in the future.

If you do onto others…one day someone would do onto you …Karma. Is MOM only have place to report on bullies? How about suing the boss or organisation for causing duress to an employee…get an expert advice on this.

I can empathise with your situation. As a female myself, I also hate to work under female supervisors. The male supervisors may not be angels either, but the men are at least more rational and not so temperamental.

Many married women are “forced” to balance family and career, making them very tired, stressed and bad-tempered. In addition to that, they also suffer from PMS. Many years ago, I told a new girl that the female superior had menopause even though she was “young”. This new girl was “bullied” by her in a similar way as me.

The problem with this superior was that she was biased and blamed new staff instead of getting her facts right. We just suffered in silence and this girl left before me. Even though the manager asked us why we resigned, we didn’t tell her the truth. This female manager was living in her ivory tower and had lost touch with ground sentiments. We got no one to confide in except to leave without a job.

MOM, TAFEP, NTUC etc. couldn’t help much either. They just follow the rule book and regurgitate out from it. The emotional trauma is hard to heal, esp. if the next boss is even worse. It is a vicious cycle without any solution.

I think the bad part about female superiors is that they tend to be bad-tempered, stressed, petty, jealous, emotional, judgemental, biased etc. On the other hand, men are more rational. Men don’t show much emotions. Men usually would try to find solutions to solve problems, while women would blame someone else or avoid the problem.

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